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Columbus coffee roaster Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea has introduced a limited edition coffee, 1991 Blend, to commemorate its 25th anniversary. The combination of Ethiopian and Guatemalan coffee beans has flavors of chocolate-covered cherries and strawberries with a syrupy body and sweet finish.

1991 Blend represents our origins and our journey as a company over the past quarter century. With each year, we increase the focus on our responsibility to represent the hard work that local farmers put into growing each bean.

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In August 1991, The Fresh Prince was fresh, MS-DOS 5.0 was cutting-edge tech, fava beans were all the rage, and Greg Ubert roasted his first coffee beans. This week, the Founder and President of Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea kicked off the Columbus roaster’s 25th anniversary celebrations by introducing a new, limited-edition coffee: 1991 Blend.

“1991 Blend represents our origins and our journey as a company over the past quarter century,” he said. “With each year, we increase the focus on our responsibility to represent the hard work that local farmers put into growing each bean, and we make a point to meet with as many individual farmers as possible.”

Over the past two years, the coffee-buying team has traveled more than 25,000 miles to forge direct trade relationships with small-plot coffee farmers. To create the new blend, Coffee Sourcing and Education Manager Brandon Bir and Coffee Buyer Dave Eldridge mixed two of their favorite small-lot relationship coffees.

“After cupping several contenders, we settled on a Guatemalan Pacamara from the Antigua area and a natural processed heirloom varietal from the Limmu region of Ethiopia,” Bir said.

“The resulting cup has flavors of chocolate-covered cherries and strawberries with a syrupy body and sweet finish,” Eldridge added.

1991 Blend comes in bright, retro packaging that recalls the 1990s.

“This was the decade that specialty coffee and café culture really took off in the states,” Ubert recalled. “It seemed as if a new coffee shop opened nearly every day.”

Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea, Roast magazine’s 2016 Macro Roaster of the Year, is celebrating 25 years of Coffee + Community. Since 1991, Crimson Cup has roasted sustainably sourced specialty and craft coffee in small batches. The company also teaches entrepreneurs to run successful coffee houses through its coffee franchise alternative program, which includes a coffee shop business plan. Crimson Cup coffee is available through a community of more than 350 independent coffee houses, grocers, colleges and universities, restaurants and food service operations across 30 states, Guam and Bangladesh, as well as the company’s own Crimson Cup Coffee Houses. To learn more, visit crimsoncup.com